Cut lip

Its now the summer holidays - hurray! I was planning to do a little practise each day to improve range and stamina, but last Wednesday I quite badly cut my lip on the bracket on the upper right canine tooth. I tried doing a little playing the day after, but it made the split worse so I have not picked up the Cornet until it is completely healed.

I also might have a go at using this, which someone recommended on The Mouthpiece.

Ligatures

I am getting fed up with the ligs coming off my brackets. Unless I want to eat soup and nothing else for the next two and half years then I seem to be resigned to them popping off. I think I might have a chat with the orthodontist at my next appointment and ask if I can have coloured bands down the bottom of the brace so I can see what is causing them to pop off. The wire keeps popping out on the other side of the brace too, so I'm a little fed up with them at the moment.

Last night we went out for dinner and the hook on the bottom right canine decided to be evil and has gouged a big hole out of my cheek. Nice

:/

D.I.S.C.O.... D.I.S.C....oh bugger.....

Broken one of my brackets on, stupidly enough, a pack of DISCO crisps!! Wont be eating those again. The bracket is still attached to the wire, but not the tooth. Its the bracket on the top left canine tooth. Whoops...... Back to the ortho in 3 weeks, going to leave it and ask if I should have come in next time I see her.

I have had my braces on two months today!! Time absolutely flies when its er..... impossible to eat, and almost impossible to play the cornet!

I managed the whole of Beethoven's 5th of 1st trumpet with ELLSO last night (LOTS of top A's). Wasn't as powerful as the previous concert, but at least the range and pitching was almost as good as pre-braces. Fills me with confidence that all will return to normal, and when the braces come off I will have amazing amounts of stamina. Or, alternatively I guess I could just be shockingly poor! LOL

Food and ligs

I keep loosing the ligs on the bottom two brackets on either side of my mouth. Basically, if you bite into anything crunchy (like a piece of apple) then it can force the wire down between my back two brackets, and this 'pops' off the ligatures holding down the wire. This happened on Monday, and the wire can come out of the bracket at the end which holds the entire wire in place (the 'tube' bracket, as it is sometimes called).

I went back to the ortho on Tuesday to have the two ligs on the right side replaced and the wire returned to the 'tube' bracket at the back. The funny thing is I only started chewing on the right side after I had the infection in my wisdom tooth on the left side four weeks ago. So after having the right side done, I switched back to chewing on the left and now I have lost those ligs too!!!! Luckily the wire hasn't popped out the tube bracket, so if I am careful for the next four weeks I can keep it in place.

I had Tuesday morning off of work to go into the ortho to get the ligatures replaced (luckily it was my free morning as Year 12 were off and I had a free period) and there were two kids there in the uniform of my first school I taught in (Year 7s I think, so I didn't recognise them)!!! So glad the kids at my current school get sent to a different area for their orthodontic work!!!

6 weeks in....

...and the first adjustment. Not time for a new wire yet, but the ortho has tightened up my current wire and changed all the ligs so my brace is invisible again! Didn't think they had stained that badly, but you can definitely see the difference.

Braceeze

Braceeze - in a word, no. No good for cornet playing because it doesn't set hard enough. Its very squishy even after it has set. Its pretty good for the brackets which don't have any pressure on them (for example, at the side of the mouth) but no good for the front. As soon as you put any pressure on (even slight) it squishes out the way and you are left with bare wires, which is no good at all.

The killer combo seems to be braceeze at the sides and dollop of wax over the front wire. Progress is steady but sometimes painful and frustrating. Felt like giving up last night. I am better with stuff I don't have to sight read as I have more confidence in what I need to play and where I am pitching. Progress today though - I managed to get out my first top B natural above the stave!!!

I also have my new wire installed and in a weeks time - cant wait to see if it closes the gap on the left side of my mouth between the front and side teeth, and the difference it makes to my bottom teeth, which are still a mess.

For the first time in my life I have NO gap between my front teeth!! : )

OOOOOWWWCHHH!

Had an infected wisdom tooth - my god, the pain!!! It was nothing to do with the braces, but it was two teeth back from where the final bracket sits. Seven days of constant awful toothache and some hard-core antibiotics later, and I seem to be relatively back to normal. There is a small chance I might have to have the stupid wisdom tooth (don't why it's called a 'wisdom' tooth when it doesn't seem very clever to me....) removed. I have got a follow-up appointment at the dentist on Tuesday next week to make sure its all cleared up, but if they take the damn thing out I will be quite happy. Never felt pain quite like it!

On the plus side, the evil mouthwash the dentist gave me cleaned my brackets quite nicely!